Yesterday, Monday 18th September was a glorious afternoon, very warm for the time of year. I took my dog Tilly for a walk and didn’t take the camera, which is always a mistake! There were still plenty of Dragonflies flying about although they didn’t stay around long for identification.
What excited me the most was spotting a Clouded Yellow Butterfly flying over the meadow by the River Stour, I have seen them at Martin Down Nature reserve but not so close to home, you can’t mistake the bright buttercup yellow of their open wings. The picture is of course an archive, one I took on Martin Down this season. They are a migratory butterfly usually preferring chalk downland.
Another exciting spot was a Small Copper Butterfly in the same field it was also in pristine condition. There has been quite a few Red Admiral Butterflies lately flying around the garden and down the lane close to home.
The weather changed the next day very windy although still warm, I’m still seeing stragglers of Martins and Swallows passing through, I was walking round the fields and suddenly they come from nowhere skimming over the surface for flies and then heading towards the coast.
As you will read in the next edition of The Hill, both Roger Hull and I recently saw a Small Copper in our gardens (in my case the first time I had seen one). However, I’ve never seen a Clouded Yellow.
It’s so nice to see them close to home!